


Secret Comfort of Women - Margaret

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-02-09
Updated: 2002-02-09
Packaged: 2019-05-15 01:13:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14780825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Leo's hurting...





	Secret Comfort of Women - Margaret

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

Rating: G  
Spoilers: yes, but I can't recall the episode title.  
Archive: yes, but let me know where.  
Summary: Leo's hurting...

Secret Comfort of Women - Margaret

We have a secret, we women. We have, through the ages, been able  
to comfort the men in our lives. No matter how far we go  
professionally and how much respect we demand and command, we  
will always have that secret. We will always know the secret of  
getting close enough to offer comfort, yet retain our distance  
lest we upset the delicate balance of our roles. It is bred into  
our bones, engraved on our hearts, and it gives us our strength.   
We are the nurturers. And sometimes even the strongest men need  
the softest of touches...

\- Margaret -

I knew that it was going to be a hard day for Leo and could not  
help but fuss over him. Leo growled about it. Leo likes to  
tease and growl at me, picking on me for being fussy and  
eccentric. Not that I am eccentric; he doesn't pay me enough for  
that.

The divorce papers landed on my desk and I could hardly bear to  
touch them. I mean, they were just papers, right? Just wood  
fibre and, hopefully, recycled pulp, with ink spots on them in  
recognisable patterns, right? The papers were harmless. The  
contents of them were not. Inside the yellow envelope was Leo's  
life, his heart and his hopes.

Leo coped well with the separation. Leo was never one to wear  
his heart on his well tailored sleeve. But I knew. I knew  
better than anyone how he felt. Maybe that was the problem; I  
knew better than Jenny how he felt. If she knew - truly knew -  
those papers would not be sitting on my desk, lying in wait to  
devastate Leo.

When I took them in, he looked at them with outward calm. He's  
good at that. But I knew. I knew how it would hurt him to pick  
up a pen and sign his name at the bottom. That signature would  
hurt him more than any other signature he's ever written. He  
looked up at me and he knew. He knew that I was worried for him,  
that I hurt along with him. I'm not as good at outward calm.

He told me that I had nothing to worry about; he wasn't going to  
embrace the lover that had ever failed him now that Jenny was  
gone. He wasn't going to take that drink. I knew he wasn't; I  
trusted him to turn away from that deadly caress of oblivion.

It wasn't until much later, until the White House was still and  
quiet, until the bustle and haste was becalmed in the sea of  
night, that Leo would be tempted. That he would allow himself to  
really know how empty his life had become.

"Leo?" I saw him sitting there in the dark, with only a single  
lamp illuminating the papers on his desk. His face was in shadow  
and I knew why. He would never allow me to see the tears  
directly, but he would allow me to know that they were there.

"Margaret, why are you still here?"

I couldn't answer. Nothing soothing and comforting came to mind.   
Nothing that would make the next five minutes easier to bear.   
Instead, I followed my heart and walked over to him. He stayed  
where he was, not asking what I was doing. He knew.

I bent and kissed him. It was all I had to offer him; a kiss  
that said that I cared, a kiss that said that I wanted to make it  
all better, a kiss of simple kindness. A kiss that said 'I love  
you'. It was all I had, and it was everything.

Leo closed his eyes briefly, sqeezing out the last tears that had  
been standing in his eyes. When he opened them, they were clear  
and very tender.

"You're a good girl, Margaret," he said quietly and I knew he  
would be all right; that I had done what he needed me to do.

"Wanna hear a joke?" I asked brightly, so the moment would not  
go on too long.

"Sure."

And I told the joke and Leo laughed a little too hard. He knew  
that I needed him to laugh, just as I knew he need to be kissed.

We know each other so well.

END

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